i'm gonna learn to play the drums.

[Guthrum]

Good luck, mang.

 

[dorian gray]

Hmm, cool. Almost bought one of these back when I lived with the parents but never did and ever since, I've never had enough room. My next place will be bigger so....

...and what Furious B said. I always figured the dynamics would be so different that if I were to try and play acoustic in a band, they'd all be like, "uhhh...I thought you said you could play drums?!"

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

I've been wanting to learn drums for a couple years now. I've always had real good rhythm. Just no where to really put a drumset.

 

[Erik]

I've always had real good rhythm.

yeah they do say that your kind has rhythm in the blood

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

fuck you nigga

 

[MajestikMøøse]

I don't like digital drums. They don't feel like real drums at all (which might make it a bit disorienting when you move onto an acoustic set)

 

[Erik]

i am counting on "a bit disorienting" but it's hardly like you can't practice mainly on a digital set and become a half decent drummer

 

[MajestikMøøse]

fair enough.

that, plus I just like to make noise. That's all.

 

[unhinged]

cool, i said "dtxpress" but i actually meant "dtxplorer" which is their cheapest, basically a cheaper version of the dtxpress i guess

aye I could tell from the picture, our kids primary school has one
I heard it through a roland keyboard amp and it sounded great
didn't have a go myself...

basically its a new cheaper version of what I have (bought for £400 s/h, with the proceeds from 2 rare maiden 7" believe it or not)
right, the pads are basically the same but the module is diferent
I'd recomend going s/h on a dtxpressII because theres a lot more options I believe

the two main things you need to know are
this is not silent!!
especialy if you have a wooden floor, the bass pad especially is very noisy, really slappy, every time I play it is louder than my headphones can go
and really off putting
so its hard to tell the volumes and sounds of what you are playing, a recodng will sound better than what you are\hearing when you play
mesh heads are quieter, but also not silent

this is NOT like playing a real kitthe rubber pads will make your tom fills faster and you will find it very hard to replicate it on less bouncy real drums

I find it very hard to keep a natural flow in playing songs
its very hard to maintain steady rythms especially double bass on the kickpad too, the kick pad is supposed to take a double beater but mistriggers quite a bit
I intend to get 2 roland single bass triggers
that work by beating down instead of forward

the cymbals are very limited but the sounds are good

there are some decent snare sounds but of course its not like the real thing
buzz rolls and shit are almost possible but kinda wanky

but there advantages too
especially for recording
I don't intend to use this for recording scald metal, but I will for scald noise and industrial stuff. along with my roland spds
I recorded some stuff recently as a test on mini disk for a project, just to see how the kit sounded
it sounded pretty good, good for messing with in loops at least
just got a laptop so I'll be recording with soundforge soon

the main advantage for yourself since you know about such things is that you'll be able to record midi straight from the module (not sure if theres midi on the cheaper one) then you can use better drum samples like drumkit from hell or something and correct your mistakes, alter the tempos etc

I know fuck all about midi so I just record beats and phrases as 'ingredients'

when we've done the thrash punk mcd 'fluke' we'l lbe working on more prog things again, I've already rehearsed with the spds along with my normal kit, I may be integrating the yamaha kit too or at least a couple of pads

I will be using it for a couple of experimental projects but I wouldn't attempt to play full metal songs on this
maybe I'm too used to acoustic drums
it would be nice to try one of the high end roland kits but thats fucking big money there

 

[Erik]

especialy if you have a wooden floor, the bass pad especially is very noisy, really slappy, every time I play it is louder than my headphones can go

i don't have a wooden floor. maybe some sort of carpet would help?

the rubber pads will make your tom fills faster and you will find it very hard to replicate it on less bouncy real drums

well ok. i'll have to try to practice real drums whenever i get the chance, too, but i'm starting entirely from scratch here. if i get decent enough practicing on the digital kit that i don't have to embarass myself completely when i sit down at a real drumkit i'm happy

the main advantage for yourself since you know about such things is that you'll be able to record midi straight from the module (not sure if theres midi on the cheaper one) then you can use better drum samples like drumkit from hell or something and correct your mistakes, alter the tempos etc

there is midi, and yes if i am going to use this for anything half serious i intend to record midi only and then use better drum samples in my sequencer. but really, the primary reason i'm getting this is to practice so i can maybe become a half decent drummer and record on acoustic drums later.

I will be using it for a couple of experimental projects but I wouldn't attempt to play full metal songs on this

that's not my intent either. home demos that noone except me and my band members will hear, at most.

cheers a lot for that post, lots of good info.

 

[unhinged]

carpet will help with slipage
just like with real drums, the point about wooden floors is that it acts like an amplifier...like whacking a box is louder than whacking a flat piece of card

if you want to just practice you could just use a practice kit with mesh heads
like those arbiter flats, you can use it as a proper kit with real heads too

but of course you don't get all the wacky kit variations
..I know you want those reggae and hip hop set ups

for demos it will be cool
save a lot of time probably, getting a usuable acoustic kit recording takes time
an artform in itself

 

[cthulufhtagn]

i want to start drumming really bad too, i'll have a house to play in next semester but prolly not the cash

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

I guess I should post something about drumming here. I have very limited experience on electronic kits, mainly just fooling around at music stores and on friends kits. Honestly, electronic kits just frustrate me. I just dont like the feel of them, and I never feel comfortable on them.

 

[NAD]

I spent about 6 months teaching myself to play drums, pretty much gave it up after that because I can competently play some decent beats with bad feel now, and that's about as far as I wanted to take it apparently.

[/useless example of real world experience]

 

[Mormagil]

drums are awesome. i want a kit like the one featured on this record:

 

[Night Mare]

Here's a couple of pointers that may or may not be obvious:
- Practice drum strokes on a pillow, it sounds really dumb but it gives you a very strong stroke and fast rebound when you get on a real kit. The Yamaha drums have a much faster rebound than an acoustic kit obviously, so if you play electronic all the time you're going to have shit technique when you use a real kit.
- Switch your bass drum foot between right and left every now and then instead of just sticking to the right foot, it'll make your feet ambidextrous and stop you getting a right foot bias like mine, it's taking me years to get my left foot up to speed and that sucks.

 

[Erik]

Here's a couple of pointers that may or may not be obvious:
- Practice drum strokes on a pillow, it sounds really dumb but it gives you a very strong stroke and fast rebound when you get on a real kit. The Yamaha drums have a much faster rebound than an acoustic kit obviously, so if you play electronic all the time you're going to have shit technique when you use a real kit.
- Switch your bass drum foot between right and left every now and then instead of just sticking to the right foot, it'll make your feet ambidextrous and stop you getting a right foot bias like mine, it's taking me years to get my left foot up to speed and that sucks.

good advice. cheers

 

[Night Mare]

Not a problem, good luck!

 

[lizard]

here's my advice: don't take up drums because if you make a band as a drummer you or the bass player will be the first band members to be replaced.









< what's with this shit my apostrophes being replaced with squares!

 

[Trylakos]

for some reason I found it harder to play electronic drums compared to real, but it might be because I had played drums time to t ime through the past 3 years and only played an electric kit for th efirst time 2 weeks ago.